The SAI is the world’s oldest organization of its kind, and represents a community of professional illustrators, animators, model makers and photographers who contribute to architecture through a wide range of disciplines. The gallery showcased a variety of these techniques, from traditional methods such as watercolour and pencil to the latest in computer-generated technology, photo-real imagery and animation.

Located on the historic riverside street Shad Thames, the gallery shares a converted warehouse space with design studio AVR London, a collective of artists and architects who create visionary 3D renderings for architects and developers to be used in the promotion and marketing of their work. Anise Gallery – as a literal and figurative extension of the firm’s workspace and its creative process – is dedicated to fostering and celebrating illustrative talents in multi media.

Architectural renderings frequently start out as freehand sketches – the most immediate method of communicating and visualizing ideas while still leaving plenty of room for interpretation. They hint at the direction a design may take and are then further finessed and formalized. Subsequently, with 3D software those ideas can be converted into realistic shapes that will eventually result in physical structures.

The compilation of works on display included lively travel sketches (carnets de voyage); perspectives laboriously detailed with the finest of pencil markings; and photorealistic digital images that, while based upon accuracy, still maintain a looseness and painterly effect. A series of captivating renderings featured the London skyline and highlighted the city’s latest addition, the glass-robed Shard, Europe’s tallest skyscraper, which is set to open in June.